We Bid a Fond Aloha to Puhia Pele

As I trekked back up the mountain, on a different route (The one that comes out across from Makelei Country Club), the telephone poles give an idea of the scale of the south wall of the Puhia Pele gash/crater, source of the huge 1800 flow that covered a famous fishpond, and upon which sits Keahole International Airport, The flow reaches from OTEC to to Mahai'ula Beach in Kona Coast State Park. So long, Puhia Pele! Thanks for the disturbing sexual imagery!

Main Part of Puhia Pele

At some point in the channel to the right of the picture is a deep shaft. Depth of the combined pit crater open conduit complex of Na One totals 263 m (862 feet).
Note the red sides.

Pit at makai end of crater/gash

At the makai end of Puhia Pele is this pit. There's a lava channel flowing right out of it. Just a little ways down the channel, an owl left its home on the cliff to check me out. After observing me a little, he flew back to his nest.

What's the technical name?

At the mauka end of the crater/slit is this little cone, a round little button.

Hike to Puhia Pele

This is the crater that produced the lava that the Keahole Airport sits on. There is a new road bulldozed straight down to the crater from the upper road, about 60 yards Waimea of the second (not the whale) mailbox. The entire hike is on bulldozed roadway or actual roadway, and you don't have to ignore any "No Trespassing" signs. Puhia Pele is, in physical appearance, a red gash in the earth. The little peak in the picture is the mauka/Ka'u wall of the slit.